CYRIL RAMAPHOSA INAUGURATED AS PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA

Cyril Ramaphosa officially became South Africa’s President after he was sworn in by Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoengat Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on May 25 2019.

President Ramaphosa, 66, was elected President by Parliament after the African National Congress (ANC) won the general election earlier this month.

Representatives from the continental regional economic blocks, former liberation movements, fraternal countries, the African Union, the United Nations, members of the diplomatic corps, former presidents of South Africa, Heads of State of neighbouring countries as well as over 30 000 members of the public, witnessed the inauguration.

Born in 1952 in Soweto, President Ramaphosa played an important role in the liberation struggle for a democratic South Africa. The President was detained in 1974 for organising pro-Frelimo rallies that were held to celebrate the independence of Mozambique. Two years later, after the Soweto student uprising he was detained again. He became the first general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1982. In 1991, he was elected ANC Secretary General and subsequently became head of the ANC team that negotiated the transition to democracy. Following the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, he was elected chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly, which wrote South Africa’s new democratic constitution. He moved into the private sector in 1996, and in 2001 founded Shanduka Group, a diversified investment holding company. He resigned from Shanduka in 2012 following his appointment as Deputy President of South Africa. On 18 December 2017, Cyril Ramaphosa was elected the president of the ANC. Following President Jacob Zuma's resignation in February 2018, he was elected President of South Africa by the National Assembly. On May 22, 2019 he was unanimously elected as president by Parliament after ANC won the legislative vote on May 8 2019.